February 2008

February 23, 2008

Snip, Snip, Snip. Sew, Sew, Sew.I decided I better show-and-share some of my two older girls' projects lest you think they did not get the textile-therapy gene like the triplets did! I tell you the truth: Apples don't fall far from trees. All my girls seem to like fabric and the potential it holds. We hope the male constituent (singular--even our cat is a girl!) of this house doesn't feel left out, but he shows no interest in stitching up something fabulous. If he did, we'd include him in the fun. Bless his heart, though. He encourages us to do whatever makes our boat float! What makes his boat float, you ask? Well, he is a lover of million mile bike rides and steep death marches up the tallest mountain in the forest. We don't get it, but we join him occasionally. It amuses us.

Anyhoo, when my very scheduled older daughters get a chance, they pull my old Kenmore off the shelf and stitch up something fun. I used this machine for many years. I must say the Kenmore can stitch a straight stitch like no other. That's about all it can do, but hey, at least it does it well! Kchnk, kchnk, kchnk, kchnk...that is the very clunky sound of perfectly straight even stitches.

Back to the girls...Paige is eleven. She is not afraid to try anything. If she sees it, she thinks she can make it. Most of the time she can. After seeing me make about a kabillion bags, she decided to give it a try. She designed and stitched these for her sisters. She filled them with goodies before she gave them away. Not too bad for a sewing newbie, huh?

Hailey is fourteen. She designed and stitched these little penguins. I was impressed by her vision. First, she would stitch the shape of the wings and feet on fabric with the wrong sides toghether. Then she would cut out her pieces using the stitching as a guide. All of her seams are on the outside.It thinks it gives the birdies alot of character. Perhaps she will design patterns like these someday. I love these little Flossies from Melly and Me. Not quite as much as I love Paige Bags and Hailey Penguins, but almost.

Next time I post, I will show you what I've been up to lately. Shelves of Love, I tell you! Shelves. Of. Love. Or maybe I'll tell you why Chick's Rule. Or maybe...Oh, so many ideas! I can't wait.

February 16, 2008

I created these notebook covers for my five girls for Valentine's Day. They are always looking for a notebook for one reason or another. I was inspired by the Craftapple Patchfolio. In fact, I even have the pattern. It's a great easy-to-follow pattern. I wish I would've had time to use it for this project. Instead I had to improvise and go without any bells and whistles since Valentine's Day was here before I knew what hit me. It takes a while to make five of anything. Focus and simplicity are the name of the game when you start a project this big the day before it needs to be done! Maybe I will try the Patchfolio for my mom's Mother's Day gift.

It was a lot of fun to mix and match the fabrics for this project. My favorite fabric has to be the one with the vintage banana seat bike. This is a Heather Ross fabric. I ordered it from JCarolyn Creative since I couldn't find it any where in town. Caroline has a fabulous selection of fabrics. The customer service and speedy delivery can't be beat either. Anyway, I digress. Back to the fabric. The bike on this fabric brings back a flood of memories for me. I had a pink bike just like this one with a glittery banana seat and a sissy bar when I was a girl. It belonged to my older sister first. I remember being very happy when it was finally mine. If I were in the market for a new bike now, I would get this one. How cool is that?

February 10, 2008

Have you ever made your own gift but not known you were making a gift for yourself? I'm not talking in circles here. This can really happen. Let me start at the beginning. This fall the triplets, Becca, Emily, and Libbie, kept bugging me to teach them to sew. I wasn't quite ready to set them loose on my sewing machine so I decided to teach them to embroider instead. After a very concentrated effort with lots of needle-threading, knot-tying, floss-untangling rescues by the mominator (a.k.a. me), all three of them completed a lovely flower on a simple piece of muslin. A treasure for mama, to be sure!

Christmas comes a knocking. The triplets decide they would like to give Mimi (my mom) a handcrafted gift. A pillow, to be exact. They wanted to know if I could I make a pillow out of their embroidery work. In my mind I was thinking, "No way! I want to keep your masterpieces, pleease." Not wanting to discourage their thoughtful giving, I said sure. After all, it was for my mom. She is the one who has inspired me to create. Is there a better way to show my gratitude? What a perfect gift! The pillow was made. I was in love but looked forward to seeing my mom's joy on Christmas morning. I gave the pillow to the girls and told them to wrap it up with hugs and kisses for Mimi.

A week goes by. Christmas Eve is upon us. At our house, we celebrate with Kevin's (that's my husband) family on Christmas Eve and my family on Christmas Day. The magical time has come to open gifts. There is excitement in the air and joy abounding. It is my turn to open a gift. I pick one out of my pile. It's from the triplets. I wonder what their dad has helped them pick out for me. I'm noticing that the three of them are all grins. As if you haven't guessed already, in the gift was the pillow. I AM LOVING IT! Later in the evening, Libbie crawled up next to me and said she was sure sorry I had to make my own gift but emphatically added, "we don't even know how to sew yet!" Maybe next year, sweet girls!

I'm feeling a little bit bad that my mom didn't get her slice of loveliness. But I know there is more where this pillow came from. Get you needles, floss, and hoops out little girlfriends. It's time to to be inspired!

February 06, 2008

Hello, there! You've clicked your way to my spanky new You Go Girl blog. My name is Cassie. I am the wife to one handsome hunk of man, mom to five fabulous daughters, and friend to many. I used to be a teacher, too. Having five children in four and a half years (I had an unplanned pregnancy that turned out to be triplets--but that's a story for another time!) put a lid on my teaching career. My girls are older now (14,11,9,9,9) but they seem to need mama love (translation=mama time) as much as ever. Being their mom is my favorite job. When the girls are at school, I like to make fun stuff like this--

and this--

and this--

I seem to make a lot of bags for my You Go Girl boutique (custom order business). I make other fun stuff, too. It doesn't really matter to me what I sew. The bottom line is I love fabric. I love rubbing my hand across the smooth fibers. I love hearing the snap of the fabric when I fold it fresh out of the dryer. I love watching the colors dance through my imagination when I put it in my stash. Oh, the possibilities! I get giddy just typing about it! Sometimes I have trouble actually using a piece of fabric because I'm always worried that I will think of something more splendid than ever to create with it. Does that make any sense?

Lately, I've been giving my craft room some sweetness with some Amy Butler fabric I've had for a long time. I must've really loved the fabric when I bought it because I had a lot...enough to skirt my cutting table, in fact! More on the craft room renovation later. For now, I will say tootles. Thanks for stopping by. ~Cassie